§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by how much Government spending has changed in 1994–95 as a result of the private finance initiative; what is the estimated effect in 1995–96; how many jobs are to be created by schemes approved to date under the initiative and how many have been lost as a consequence in the public sector; and what is the forecast of transfer of employment from public to private sector over the last five years because of the initiative. [30835]
§ Mr. HowardCapital spending in the Home Office did not change in 1994–95, nor is it expected to do so in 1995–96, as a result of the private finance initiative. In these two years my Department will have incurred no contractual payments associated with service delivery. Staff resources allocated specifically to overseeing and developing the initiative cost approximately £100,000 per annum.
All Home Office capital expenditure proposals are examined to see if better value for money could be obtained through the private finance route. However, at present all Home Office schemes that have reached 662W detailed consideration for private finance are additional to, not a substitute for, existing public capital provision.
It is not possible to assess how many jobs have been created so far in the private sector in response to the private finance initiative. However, in addition to those that will be created in construction of capital assets—for which public finance would not have been available-preliminary estimates suggest that around 1,000 operational long-term jobs could result from current private finance schemes. As these projects are new facilities, it is not envisaged that public sector jobs will be lost.